Bengal Govt To Bar Bureaucrats From Sharing State Information

Kolkata: Extending her rivalry with the Centre, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in another move has decided to bar IAS, IPS officers and other bureaucrats of the state from sharing ‘classified’ information about the state with the Centre government even when they are central deputation.

Bengal bureaucrats are comparing this move on the lines of Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar’s initiative to prevent IAS and IPS officers of Bihar cadre from consuming alcohol even outside the state when they are on central deputation.

Sources from the state personnel & administrative reforms department said that this will be an extension of the earlier instruction from the chief minister for the IAS and IPS officers under state government jurisdiction to refrain from sharing any form of information with the Union government.

The state government will have to bring an amendment in the West Bengal Government Servant Conduct Rules, 1959, under which all IAS and IPS officers of the state cadre will have to give an undertaking in this regard.

In order to extend the prohibition in the state, the Bihar government, too, amended Bihar Government Servant Conduct Rules, 1976, under which IAS and IPS officers of the state cadre gave an undertaking.

Only in December last year when the BJP-Trinamool Congress tussle was at its peak, Mamata Banerjee instructed the IAS and IPS officers of state cadre to skip every Central meeting. She alleged that the Centre is constantly intervening in the matters of the state.

A senior member of the state cabinet said on condition of anonymity that the chief minister doubts that a number of central agencies have become unnecessarily active in the state. Her impression is based on classified information passed down by certain bureaucrats of the state cadre who are currently on central deputation.